HISP 345 students have been hard at work modeling Caroline Street pre-1807 fire. The first step was collecting Mutual Assurance Policies from 1796 and overlaying them in Google Earth to get a reasonable idea of where the buildings were located (below image). Subsequent years, until 1807, will also be modeled with the objective of conveying the dramatic difference in the visual appearance of Fredericksburg during the late 18th and early 19th centuries compared to today. Google Earth was chosen in large part because it is free and provides adequate accuracy tolerances to reach the objective of the exercise. The brief video showing some of the building massings, created in SketchUP, on the Caroline Street topography check out the Department for Historic Preservation's Facebook page. The video moves from the southern end of Caroline Street to the northern end. At present "photoreal" renderings are being applied to student models like Heather Kennedy's model of the building at the … [Read more...]
Stewardship of a University’s Built Heritage
Jack Pyburn, FAIA will present a lecture entitled Stewardship of a University's Built Heritage. This lecture sponsored by the UMW Center for Historic Preservation will delve into how University campuses can best address preservation issues with limited fiscal resources. The lecture will be held on November 11th from 5-6:30 in Combs Hall, room #237. … [Read more...]
Preservation Students Present at Archeological Society of Virginia Conference
Congratulations to Historic Preservation students Jessica Bittner and Robin Ramey who presented at the Archeological Society of Virginia Conference on October 12th. Despite a Sunday morning session attendance was high. The abstract for their presentation is posted below. Funding was in part made possible by the UMW Center for Historic Preservation. A Progress Report on the Oval Site (44WM80), Stratford Hall Plantation Jessica Bittner and Robin Ramey, University of Mary Washington For several summer seasons the Department of Historic Preservation at the University of Mary Washington has sponsored an archaeological field school in cooperation with the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association at a mid-18th-century site at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County. Known as the Oval Site because of its location within a modern, reconstructed landscape feature, the site contains four earthfast buildings and corresponds either to a plantation farm quarter or an overseer’s … [Read more...]
Amphitheatre History
The history of the UMW Amphitheatre has been posted under Research Resources-University of Mary Washington (link below). This history was created as part of the UMW Preservation Plan. http://cas.umw.edu/chp/research-resources/university-of-mary-washington/ … [Read more...]
Chandler Hall History and Drawings Posted
The history of Chander Hall has been posted under Resources-University of Mary Washington (http://cas.umw.edu/chp/research-resources/university-of-mary-washington/ )as well as drawings created by Charles Robinson in 1928 for construction of Chandler Hall (the Training School) and the drawings created by J. Binford Walford in 1938 for the portico addition to Chandler Hall (cabinet 2). … [Read more...]
Professor Doug Sanford and the Stratford Field School in the News
Congratulations to Professor Sanford and the Stratford field school. http://news.fredericksburg.com/pastisprologue/2014/08/25/umw-students-at-stratford-hall-go-the-extra-mile/ http://www.freelancestar.com/2014-08-26/articles/43671/excavations-reveal-how-lees-slaves-lived/ … [Read more...]
New Fredericksburg Courthouse and Clerk’s Office Location
Researchers and students be advised, the Fredericksburg Clerk's Office is now open in its new location, just down the street, at 701 Princess Anne Street on the first floor. The new facility does not allow cellphones, backpacks or computers. … [Read more...]
Chemistry and Historic Preservation: A Collaborative Research Project on Bricks and Mortar
The blog Between the Cracks details two undergraduate students’ work as researchers partaking in the Summer Science Institute program at the University of Mary Washington. Sarah Smith, majoring in Chemistry, and Chris Young, majoring in Historic Preservation, spent the last 8 weeks of the ten week program researching and testing brick and mortar samples from some of Fredericksburg’s most historic structures. The samples extracted from each building underwent a series of tests to determine the elemental concentrations of calcium, sulfur, iron, silica, and magnesium. With this information, Sarah hopes to link the bricks with kilns used in 18th and 19th century Fredericksburg. Chris aims to scientifically distinguish the different periods of construction at the Mary Washington House, ca. 1772. The re-evaluation of building materials can add to the historic descriptions of the buildings as well as aid in the remediation techniques used in the preservation of historic buildings. The blog … [Read more...]
First Undergraduate Historic Preservation Education Symposium
The Center for Historic Preservation hosted the First Undergraduate Historic Preservation Education Symposium on June 10-12 at the University of Mary Washington. The symposium brought together faculty from undergraduate preservation institutions from across the United States. Topics of discussion were focused on curriculum, pedagogy, and student placement. There are many programs teaching historic preservation in America, the vast majority of them at the graduate level. However, although there are only eight undergraduate programs, they graduate many more students. Therefore, understanding the specific issues in teaching historic preservation to undergraduates is of particular interest. Who are these students? How and what are they taught? What are the emerging issues in teaching this population? This was the topic of the symposium, which was the first meeting of its kind. It served to create a community and start a conversation so that preservation educators can learn from each … [Read more...]
Fredericksburg Research Resources
Dr. Gary Stanton of the Department of Historic Preservation maintains a website of research resources regarding Fredericksburg. This trove includes city directories dating back to 1885, indexes of newspapers, of wills and deeds, historic census lists, and many other historic resources. Most recently, Dr. Stanton has added an index of surviving building permits from 1938-1960. Please use this great resource! … [Read more...]
